Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1519242
M A Y 2 0 2 4 31 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M M uch has been made of Abdul Cart- er's move from linebacker to de- fensive end heading into his junior season at Penn State. For understandable reasons, there's been plenty of specula- tion about how Carter's position switch will affect the Nittany Lions' defensive front and its ability to generate pressure on the quarterback. One factor that hasn't been talked about quite as much is how positional flexibility will impact the Nittany Lions' approach to playing defense under new coordinator Tom Allen. Allen spoke after practice on March 26 and shed some light on his philosophi- cal evolution. His goal, he said, is to be as flexible as possible with key players and positions to disrupt the offense. That means playing unique, hybrid players at select spots in the defense. "You're trying to maximize your ros- ter," Allen said. "You're trying to do a great job of matching personnel, and just doing a great job of being as disruptive as you possibly can be. I think also, it's [a matter of] trying to involve as many players as you can. You get different unique roles for guys, and it helps create the buy-in for different players on the field." One key difference from his time as head coach at Indiana to his new role at PSU is that the Nittany Lions' talent makes positional flexibility native at cer- tain spots. There's no need to designate a hybrid pass rusher on the depth chart because all of the team's defensive ends can drop into coverage to some degree. "Our ends are pretty talented guys and can do a lot of different things," Allen said. "That has basically allowed us to train whoever is in that spot on the field. Whether it's to the field or to the bound- ary doesn't matter; they'll have those skills. We're really not identifying that specific position here." No matter how much a coach may talk about the goals and ideals of play- ing one scheme or another, players can give you a closer look at the practicality of what's happening. During the team's third week of spring practice, senior safety Jaylen Reed offered a glimpse at how Allen's defense differs from the one that Manny Diaz oversaw for two seasons before leaving in December to become head coach at Duke. Reed said the two coor- dinators' schemes are "pretty similar" but not identical. "One thing that Coach Allen does more [is to use] a lot more nickel per- sonnel," Reed said. "He brings more DBs on the field, more than Coach Manny would, because Coach Manny usually formatted out of a 4-3 base defense with a Sam linebacker. That's one thing I actually do like, because he brings more DBs on the field and makes more creative plays." In other words, while Allen still wants to have a three-linebacker iden- tity, the safeties are going to play like safeties. That's the difference: Diaz moved safety-type players to Sam linebacker, and those players operated as if they were linebackers. In Allen's defense, the players manning the so-called "Lion" position will still be second-level cover- age defenders, meaning that Reed can play a deep safety role while operating from the field. During his tenure at Indiana, Allen wasn't shy about sending players after the quarterback. While his blitzing num- bers didn't rival Diaz's pressure rates, he was willing to send players on third down. However, that wasn't always a choice, as he admitted earlier this spring. The talent on Penn State's defensive line means he has more options in the sec- ondary to confuse the quarterback and still get pressure. "You had to do a lot of things just to create the pressure, and you had to do a lot of things to be able to take some gam- bles [at Indiana]," Allen said. "I feel like you're able to do less in that regard [at Penn State], which is obviously a bigger- picture advantage for you to be able to still get pressure and not bring six guys." This sort of talk might concern Penn State followers. Listening to what's being described, fans might have visions of a "bend but don't break" defense. What Allen and Reed are saying, though, is that Penn State can be more aggressive in the secondary with creative concepts because the defense features more players in coverage. When you blitz a player, you lose coverage possibilities. Watching Allen work with more de- fensive combinations this fall will be fascinating. ■ O P I N I O N THOMAS FRANK CARR T F R A N K .CA R R @ O N 3 .C O M Senior safety Jaylen Reed is one of the players who figures to benefit from coordinator Tom Allen's penchant for using defensive backs in creative ways. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL Positional Flexibility Will Be Key To Defensive Scheme UPON FURTHER REVIEW